Self-adjusting tire inner-tube protector.



C. L. WITSAMAN.

SELF ADJUSTING TIRE INNER TUBE PROTECTOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.25, 1911.

'1,096,980v Patented- May 19, 1914.

UNITED STATES PATENT Ormea.

CLEMENT L. WITSAMAN, 0F AKRON, OI-IIO, ASSIGNOR T0 THE EIRESTONE TIRE &

RUBBER COMPANY. 0F AKRON, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

SELF-ADJUSTING TIRE INNER-TUBE PROTECTOR.

Specieation of Letters Patent.

Patented May 19, 1914.

Application led March 25,-1911. Serial No. 616,926.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, CLEMENT L. WITSA- MAN, acitizen of the United States, residlng at Akron, in the county of Summitand State of Ohio, have invented certain new Vand useful Improvements inSelf-Adjusting Tire Inner-Tube Protectors, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to tires for vehicles, and refers particularly to aprotector used between the' inner and outer tube of a tire.

In the ordinary form of clencher tire it is necessary to provide someform of protector in order topi-event the inner tube from coming inContact with the tire rim and being squeezed or distorted between thetwo sides of the outer tube where they are attached to the tire rim.Such a protector often consists of a. fiap, which is cemented orotherwise suitably attached to one side of the tire, and when the latteris placed in position this flap engages the opposite side of the tire,and thus prevents the inner tube from projecting into the space betweenthe two sides of the tire which are held by the tire rim. The'use of aflap of' this description is open to several objections, among theprincipal of which may be mentioned the fact that on inflating the tirethe flap is not able to accommodate itself to the shape of the innertube, but is very apt to become wrinkled.

In my improvement I provide a protector which is not connected directlyto the outer tube of the tire but engages the inner tube thereof and'consists of some suitable flexible material capable of conforming tothe changing shape of the tire during inflation. One end of thisprotector is provided with a hole, through which the valve associatedwith the inner tube passes, and the other end ofthe protector isprovided with a slot, which is brought into register with the hole inthe first end of the protector, the valve passing also through thisslot. l After the inner tube has been placed within the outer tube andis inflated, it will be clear that the protector accommodates itselfexactly to the shape of the inner tube by reason of its flexibility,longitudinal movement being permitted by means of the above-describedslot in one end of the protector. After the inner tube has been infiatedto the desired amount the spreader associated with the valve is firmlyclamped in position by adjustment of the cap Valve, and at the same timethis serves to securely clamp the ends of the protector between theinner tube and the tire rim.

These and other advantages of my invention will be .more apparent byreference to the accompanying drawings, which represent a preferred formof my improvements, and in which- Figure 1 is a fragmentary verticalsection through a vehicle wheel, with the tire and its associated partsapplied thereto; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical section on the line9.-2 of Fig. 1.; Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3-3 of Fig.1; Fig. l1 is a side elevation of the protector foi` the inner tubebefore it has been applied thereto, and Fig. 5 is a fragmentary enlargedperspective view of the ends of the protector.

The felly 10. is provided with a tire rim 11, of the so-calleddetachable type, this rim having the retaining member 12 and the lockingring 13. The outer tube lvl is held on the tire rim 11 with itsretaining member 12, in the well-known manner.

The inner tube 15 is provided with the valve 1G, thespreader 17 beingsecurely held between the expanded head 18 of the threaded valve stem 19and the nut Q0. The valve stem 19 is inclosed by the sleeve 21 havingthe flange 22 on its outer end, which FlElSSUED flange engages the innersurface of the tire v rim 11. The sleeve 21 preferably projects inwardlyto approximately the inner edge of the felly. The valve stein 19 isprovided on its inner end with a valve cap 23, which has threadedengagement with the valve stem, and also engages the inner end of thesleeve `21. It will, therefore, be apparent that on screwing up thevalve cap 23 the valve stem 19 will be drawn inwardly. whereas at thesame time the sleeve 21 will be forced outwardly against the innersurface of the tire rim 19.

The inner tube protector Q-l is located between the inner tube 15 andthe outer tube 14, and, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, the valve stem 19passes through the aperture 25 in one end of the protector and throughthe slot 26 in the other end thereof. As shown in Fig. 1, at thatportion of the tire in which the spreader 1T is located the protectorlies between the spreader and the outer tube.

The protector is applied to the inner tube tube on the portions adjacentto the tire rim more and more snugly, thus causing the protector tocontract longitudinally,which movement is allowed by the slot 26. v Inthis way all liability of the protector binding at any point isrevented. When the tire is fully inflated t e valve cap 23 is screwedhome, thereby securely clamping the two ends or the tire protectortogether and preventing further longitudinal movement of the saine. I

By reason of the location of the apertures 25 and 26 in the longitudinalcenter of the iiexible protector strip, said strip will assume a concavecross-sectional shape during inflation of the tire and thus e'ectuallyconform `tothe cross-sectional shape of the tire.

I have found that b the use of my device; which possesses the a vantageof great simplicity and ease of construction, very superior results areobtained, in that the danger of binding is e'ectually prevented 'and theinner tube is readily applied within the outer tube or casing.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many changes couldbe made in the detailed construction of the parts which I have describedWithout departing from the spirit or scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

A tire of the inflatable, inner-tube and clencher type, having a valvestern and a spreader' head thereon, and also i' provided with means toprevent pinching of the'inner tube between the edges of the outer tube,consisting of a strip of iieXible material capable of conforming. to thechanging shape of the vtire longitudinally and transversely duringinflation and lying between and unconnected witlr the inner and outertubes and bridging the space between the edges of the outer tube, saidstrip extending entirely around the tire and having its ends'overlappedand associated with the valve stem to hold the strip against creepingland at the saine time permit longitudinal sliding of the ends of thestrip upon one another during inflation of the tire, said overlappedends of the strip being smooth to facilitate the sliding of the endsupon one another.

CLEMENT L. WI'ISAMAN.

lNitnesses VVILLiAM F. RIDGE, JNO. F. SINGLETON.

